Highway 17 fatal crash: Big rig's trailer slid over top of car

Several of the cars involved in a fatal accident involving a big rig and several cars on northbound Highway 17 just before the Bear Creek Road exit on Thursday, July 10, 2014. The early morning accident closed the northbound lanes and several area roads. (Dan Honda/Bay Area News Group)
(
Dan Honda
)

The man killed in a Highway 17 crash Thursday had been wearing a seat belt, but still was partially ejected from his car, according to a CHP report released Sunday.

Daniel McGuire, 25, of Santa Cruz, died after a big rig plowed into the back of a line of northbound traffic. Nicole Annette Albaum, 37, of Royal Oaks in north Monterey County, suffered a lacerated liver in the crash, the California Highway Patrol reported.

The collision near Bear Creek Road closed most of Highway 17 for 10 hours Thursday.

McGuire's car was the fifth in a line of 10 vehicles struck. The impact of the collision partially ejected McGuire from his car, CHP Officer Ross Lee said. A preliminary investigation indicates the trailer of the semi slid over the top of McGuire's vehicle and rolled it underneath, Lee said.

Part of a big rig that crashed through the guardrail and onto Old Santa Cruz Highway during a fatal accident involving a big rig and several cars on northbound Highway 17 just before the Bear Creek Road exit on Thursday, July 10, 2014. The early morning accident closed the northbound lanes and several area roads. (Dan Honda/Bay Area News Group)
(
Dan Honda
)

Besides Albaum, six other people were transported to area hospitals with minor injuries. Among them were drivers of four cars in the crash and two passengers.

Drivers of three other cars were not reported as injured.

The driver of the semitrailer, Ravenderpal Singh, 23, of Union City, also was uninjured. He told reporters at the scene of the crash that his truck's brakes were smoking and ineffective. The truck was hauling two trailers filled with dirt.

"Our officers are still piecing together the sequence of events," Lee said, and haven't yet concluded what happened in the crash.